Jane Draper
Buying and selling real estate has been part of my life for 30 years. It started when my husband and I were first married and we built a 16-unit investment project, and we lived in one of the townhomes with our first child. A few years and another baby later, we needed a bigger home so we bought an existing house that was a major remodeling project. It needed new lighting and plumbing fixtures, new flooring and paint, and the kitchen needed new cabinets and appliances. Pretty much everything inside the house was new and I got to select and implement the color scheme of my choice—it was a fun (and tiring) experience!
Before long we added more children, so that meant a new house, right? We purchased two lots and built a new home and a rental property. As our children got older, we desired better schools and decided to buy our first “dream home.” It was a brand new build with a builder and an onsite agent. We thought the onsite agent was “our” agent, but we soon realized the agent’s loyalties were to the builder. We learned the value of buyer representation, which we had not experienced during that purchase.
After our sixth child, we decided to build a “dream home” on our own. We found the perfect lot and the perfect floor plan and then built the home we thought we would live in forever. It was beautiful and the kids loved it! We didn’t live in it forever because of a job change, but such is life. From fixer-uppers to new builds, homesteads to rental properties, upsizing to downsizing (my kids are all growing up!), and moving down the street to moving across the country, my experiences helped me realize my passion. I love the process of buying, selling, building and remodeling homes and love making that process fun and enjoyable for others as well.
What is the next stage in your life? Let’s talk!